MEDIUM IS THE MASSAGE

Well the title "The Medium Is the Massage" is a teaser
A way of getting attention
There's a wonderful sign hanging in a Toronto junkyard
Which reads 'Help Beautify Junkyards
Throw Something Lovely Away Today'
This is a very effective way of getting people
To notice a lot of things
And so the title is intended to draw attention
To the fact that a medium is not something neutral
It does something to people, it takes hold of them
It rubs them off, it massages them and bumps them around

The Medium Is the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage, the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage, the Massage

The medium of our time, electric technology
Everything from the lightbulb, the telephone
To the computer, to jets, to nuclear energy is changing everything
We are in the middle of a tremendous clash
Between the old and the new

The medium does things to people
And they are always completely unware of this
And they don't really notice
The new medium that is roughing them up
They think of the old medium,
Because the old medium is always the content
Of the new medium
As movies tend to be the content of TV
And as books used to be the content
And all this used to be the content of movies
And so every time a new medium arrives
The old medium is the content
And it is highly observable highly noticeable
But the real real roughing up and massaging
Is done by the new medium and it is ignored

The Medium Is the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage, the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage, the Massage

The idea that television, computers and the rest
Are just tools that we use for better or worse isn't true
The way you react with them is what's important
Not in them or on them
How you use your eyes to see and ears to hear
Brings about new forms of human association and action

The way we refer to this new situation
Created by the new television massage
It is an evaluation made by the old visual types
Looking in the rear view mirror as usual
Off of something that is threatening the old values
And reversing the old values

The Medium Is the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage, the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage, the Massage

When information is brushed against information
Results are startling and effective
We are re-entering the old tribal world
But this time we're going going to go through
The tribal dance and tribal dream wide awake



Credits
Writer(s): Adam Narkiewicz
Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com

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